19-23 Lower Town

A hall house dating from the 15th or 16th century, now arranged as two properties (numbers 19-23 Lower Town). The building has been modified and extended through the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, with further alterations in the later 20th century.

The structure is built from oak jointed-cruck trusses with oak timber-framing and stone rubble walling. Partition walls include a plank and muntin screen. Some floorboards are elm and pine, though most modern fixtures and floor coverings are of recent date. The roofs are slate-covered, with timber doors and casement windows. The rear wings are constructed of stone, brick, and concrete block.

The building is oriented north-east to south-west and follows a traditional three-unit medieval plan with a central hall, cross passage, lower end to the north, and upper end to the south. Originally an open hall, it received an inserted first floor in the 17th century. Both ends were storeys, probably from the original construction. The upper end was converted in the late 20th century to include an attic floor. Three historic rear additions exist, along with later 20th-century extensions of lesser significance.

The principal north-west elevation faces the road at a setback and comprises eight bays with projecting porches at each end. The left six bays (lower end and hall, comprising 21-23 Lower Town) are rendered and feature enlarged central openings with two door entrances. To the left of the left-hand door, a projection contains a bread oven. The right two bays (upper end, 19 Lower Town) display exposed random coursed rubble stone with timber lintels. Windows to each floor have been reduced in width by one light and infilled with stone. The north-east flank is rendered. Two parallel gabled wings of two storeys stand to the rear with ground-floor door openings. A single-storey 20th-century office adjoins the north-east corner. A two-storey rear addition with catslide roof extends from the hall to the left. The rear of 19 Lower Town has a single-storey addition plus attic. The flat-roofed and mono-pitched extensions are later additions of no special interest. Three rendered brick chimney stacks rise from the roofs, with two rooflights visible to the left of the main roof.

Interior features begin where the left-hand façade door opens into the lower end, which contains an inglenook with bread oven in the south wall. The oak bressumer shows deep taper burn marks. To its left stands a late 20th-century winder stair. Most joists and one spine beam to the floor above are late 20th-century replacements, though the other spine beam retains a deep chamfer with stops suggesting 17th-century date. A rear room, probably an early 19th-century addition, provides access to the cross passage. The cross passage features a pegged oak plank-and-muntin screen to the hall, with some repair and replacement at lower level. At the screen's centre is a four-centred (Tudor) arch into the hall.

The hall ceiling contains two stop-chamfered spine beams with square-profile joists featuring stops. The back wall holds an inserted brick chimney, partly built around a spine beam end. To its right is a blocked-up doorway with a frame of possible 17th or 18th-century date. An understair cupboard conceals part of the close-stud wall dividing the upper end (19 Lower Town). At the left end of the wall is a doorway with stop-chamfered jambs and mouldings. The staircase is of early 20th-century date, with exposed laths covering studs elsewhere on the wall. On the 19 Lower Town side, the wall is exposed and pegged into a cluster-moulded beam forming part of the substantial oak-framed ceiling of the upper end. Square-profile joists with beading detail are set into the ceiling. A modern oak stair cuts into the back (east end) of the ceiling, exposing the end of a box-framed rear wing. The framed ceiling is otherwise complete. A stone inglenook with oak bressumer stands in the south wall. Elm floorboards in the room above run in-line with the joists below. The roof is a 20th-century replacement incorporating some reused elements.

The first-floor landing aligns with a former doorway to a rear corridor in the adjacent hall, with a stop-chamfered doorframe to a rear bedroom. Three jointed crucks survive in the hall, but they are truncated at the apex with 20th-century replacement roof structure. One blade of the third (northern) cruck has been removed and replaced with a steel beam towards the lower end. The full extent of cruck-truss survival is obscured by partitioning and inserted ceilings. The rear wings employ reused timbers, some possibly of 16th-century date or earlier, constructed in the 19th century and later. The lower-end roof has been replaced in the late 20th century.